| Nikolai Yezhov |
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Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov (Николай́ Ива́нович Ежов́) ( May 1 , 1895 – February 4 ?, 1940 ) was a head of the Soviet Secret Police , the NKVD ( 1936 – 1938 ), during the Great Purge . His reign is sometimes known as the "Yezhovschina" ("Yezhovshchina", Ежо́вщина, Yezhov era) after him. BIOGRAPHY Yezhov was born in he was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party; in the next year he became a secretary of the Central Committee. From February 1935 to March 1939 he was also the Chairman of the Central Commission for Party Control. In the "Letter of an Old Bolshevik" (1936), which is purported to be the musings of Nikolai Bukharin , there is this contemporary description of Yezhov: "In the whole of my long life, I have never met a more repellent personality than Yezhov's. When I look at him I am reminded irresistibly of the wicked urchins of the courts in Rasterayeva Street, whose favorite occupation was to tie a piece of paper dipped in parafin to a cat's tail, set fire to it, and then watch with delight how the terrified animal would tear down the street, trying desperately but in vain to escape the approaching flames. I do not doubt that in his childhood Yezhov amused himself in just such a manner and that he is now continuing to do so in different forms. Physically, Yezhov was very short in stature - and that, combined with his sadistic personality led to his nickname 'The Poisoned Dwarf' or 'The Bloody Dwarf'. He was known as a determined loyalist of Joseph Stalin , and in 1935 he wrote a paper in which he argued that political opposition must eventually lead to violence and terrorism; this became in part the ideological basis of the Purges. He became People's Commissar For Internal Affairs (head of the NKVD) and a member of the Presidium Central Executive Committee on September 26 , 1936 , following the dismissal of Genrikh Yagoda . Under Yezhov, the purges reached their height, with roughly half of the Soviet political and military establishment being imprisoned or shot, along with hundreds of thousands of others, suspected of disloyalty or " Wrecking ". Yezhov also conducted a thorough purge of the security organs, both NKVD and GRU , removing and shooting many officials who had been appointed by his predecessors Yagoda and Menzhinsky. The effectiveness of the GRU as a military intelligence agency was virtually destroyed as experienced case officers were recalled from abroad and executed, leading in part to the USSR's disastrous performance in the Winter War with Finland. The apex of Yezhov's ascendancy was reached on 20 December 1937, when the party hosted a giant gala to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the NKVD at the Bolshoi Theater. Enormous banners with portraits of Stalin hung side-by-side with those of Yezhov. On a stage crowded with flowers, Anastas Mikoyan , dressed in a dark caucasian tunic and belt, praised Yezhov for his tireless work. "Learn the Stalin way to work, " he said, "from Comrade Yezhov, just as he learned and will continue to learn from Comrade Stalin himself." When presented, Yezhov received an "uproarious greeting." He stood, one observer wrote, "eyes cast down and a sheepish grin on his face, as if he wasn't sure he deserved such a rapturous reception." Comrade Stalin himself observed the scene from his private box. All of this merriment while a majority of the party's Central Committee were being condemned to death or prison as "enemies of the people." Although he was also appointed to the post of People's Commissar for Water Transport on April 8 , 1938 , maintaining his other posts, his role was gradually diminishing. On August 22 , 1938 , Lavrenty Beria became the deputy to Yezhov and took over the governance of the Commissariat. When Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov criticized heavily the work and methods of the NKVD in their writing of November 11 , 1938 , he was relieved of his post as the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs at his own request on November 25 , 1938 , and Beria succeeded him. On March 3 , 1939 Yezhov was relieved of all his posts in the Central Committee Of The Communist Party Of The Soviet Union . On April 10 , 1939 he was arrested. The Soviet judge Ulrikh tried him in Beria's office. Yezhov refused Beria's suggestion he confess to a plot to kill Stalin saying "it is better to leave this earth as an honourable man". On 3/4 February he was shot. His ashes were dumped in a common grave at Donskoi Cemetary (Montefiore, Stalin 288) REFERENCES
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